Colorful Toronto Mayor Stepping Down

TOM COHEN

Published
7:00 pm EST, Monday, January 13, 2003

Associated Press Writer

Mel Lastman's colorful and controversial career as mayor of Toronto is coming to an end. The former furniture salesman, who survived well-publicized gaffes and a paternity suit from an extramarital affair, announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election in November.

"I have decided this will be my last year in office because, ladies and gentlemen, Toronto's future is secure," Lastman, 69, said in a speech to business leaders, who broke into lengthy applause.

Lastman's retirement will end a political era for Toronto. He was mayor for 10 straight terms spanning 25 years in the North York suburb before it was amalgamated into metropolitan Toronto in 1997. Lastman then became the first mayor of the entire metropolitan area of more than 2 million residents and won re-election in 2000.

Toronto grew and developed in his tenure, becoming a world-class city of theater, restaurants and clubs that hosted Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day last summer.

But Lastman will be remembered more for the miscues _ a joke about Africans that hurt Toronto's bid to host the Olympics, the extramarital affair _ than his role as a major local politician for more than 30 years.

The diminutive, fast-talking Lastman put his experience as a television pitch man for his Bad Boy chain of furniture and appliance stores to good use in spotlighting city politics.

His trademark gesture _ an exaggerated wink while flashing an "OK" hand signal _ came straight from the furniture commercials, and he always had a quip ready, sometimes to his detriment.

When heading to Mombasa, Kenya, as part of a delegation promoting Toronto's bid to host the 2008 Olympics, Lastman was quoted as saying, "I just see myself in a pot of boiling water with all these natives dancing around me."

The comment drew broad criticism and _ despite an effusive apology _ Lastman received some blame for Toronto's failure to win the Olympics over Beijing.

At age 22, Lastman borrowed $2,000 to start his business, building it into a multi-store chain worth millions. His political legacy is the amalgamation of seven municipalities into metropolitan Toronto, Canada's largest city and financial capital.

In his speech Tuesday, Lastman listed accomplishments such as developing the downtown core and improving services for Toronto residents.

"Toronto is working, and it's working well and doing well," he said. "There are cities all over North American that have struggled to achieve some of these things. We've achieved them all."

Across Canada, though, Lastman is famous for blunders, such as when he prompted ridicule for calling in the military to help Toronto dig out from a heavy winter storm in 1999.

After his re-election in 2000, Lastman announced he had a 12-year affair decades earlier with a former employee of his furniture business, and her sons had filed a paternity suit seeking $4 million.

Lastman fought the suit, based on an agreement his former lover signed in which Lastman paid her $17,000, along with her legal fees, in exchange for her withdrawing "any allegation or suggestion" that he was the father of the two boys. He won initial rulings, and the case is under appeal.